A stunning house made from salvaged windows wins the Love vote for assistant editor Tish Wrigley
Samuel Johnson once sternly opined that anyone who was tired of London, was tired of life. But his was 18th century London in the Age of Enlightenment, not 21st century London in the grip of a chilly October and transport irritations. To be a bit tired of London is a common malaise and it is perhaps this base level ennui that has taken AnOther's assistant editor Tish Wrigley’s post of a glass house made from salvaged windows soaring to victory.
Most of us dream of escaping our occasionally moribund existences; just taking off into the wilderness, far from the maddening crowd and the tug of ubiquitous wi-fi, and holing up in a rural idyll for a bit. Films play on this desire – from Christopher McCandless’ quest to disappear Into The Wild to the helium propelled house in Up! – but generally people remain on their sofas rather than being galvanised into action. Not so Nick Olson and Lilah Horwitz, a pair of artists who spent last year building a cabin in the mountains of West Virginia fashioned out of salvaged glass and windows. The resulting structure is both totally beautiful and a reminder that finding respite from the urban tangle is always a possibility – even if, for most of us, the options aren't quite so picturesque.
Here, we present a short film by filmmaking duo Half Cut Tea, documenting the project and the pair behind it, and ask Wrigley what and where her dream house would be.
Why did you choose to Love this?
At the end of summer, isn’t everyone looking for an escape from the impending doom of a British winter? The rotten cold and eternal bad mood is moments away, I want to hide in West Virginia with the fireflies.
Where would you choose to build your own one and what would you use it for?
I’d build a glass fronted haven on an Essaouira beach, and use it as a surf shack.
What's your dream house – real or fictional?
The treehouse in the 1960 film version of The Swiss Family Robinson. It’s sensational: strung across the jungle on a tropical island, with running water, rope pulley skylights and a piano, steps away from a tropical beach, populated by a bizarre menagerie ranging from monkeys to zebras, and beautiful James MacArthur.
Did you have a childhood den or hideout?
We spent a lot of time in the woods in Yorkshire trying and failing to build the above. If the rain was too much, we were indoors in a den made from two armchairs and a rug, eating a lot of digestive biscuits.
What are you looking forward to about winter?
Christmas and jumpers. Not so much Christmas jumpers.
What's the last thing you bought?
A print by LaBokoff.
